Friday, 19 December 2014

Feeling better, the festivities are setting in. Sitting down to write my christmas cards, I ended up with quite the selection this year after falling madly in love with the Caroline Gardner ones on offer in TKMaxx! How awesome are these Batman themed ones? Batman just wasn't at all impressed. There's something really lovely about christmas card writing, a time to thank someone you love for the year you've spent together, maybe a chance to catch up with family, a tradition that makes people smile. I'm not one of those for writing the same old thing in each card (well, mostly) but I like to sit and take a little time on wishing my friends and family happy holidays.I also really love wrapping presents. Well, saying that, it's probably more that I love theming my papers and ribbons and tags etc etc. This year I wanted red, white and brown in tying with the theme of my tree. Intentions were good, I planned to hand dot the brown parcel paper with white ink but delays and busy christmas planning, not to mention being ill means that my brown paper is dotty-less. The spotted wrapping paper that I do have and matching pretty ribbons are from Wilko and I'll definitely be heading back there again before it's all over!

When it comes to the actual wrapping part, I get really impatient. I just want my odd-shaped gifts to look like the perfect parcels under the tree but every year I forget to save up cardboard and boxes to make it easier on myself. Batman's pretty fond of wrapping presents though and every time he hears me getting the papers out, he comes running over (usually to nibble on the corners) but hey, the thought's there!

How are you all with writing christmas cards? Are you the sort of person with the same one-liners or do you take a little more time over it? And tell me all about your wrapping themes, I'd love to compare!

Thursday, 18 December 2014

Thursday is here my thankful friends, and despite missing the last couple of weeks posts, I've come to the conclusion that I don't really put my heart into these as much as I'd like to. I panic on a Thursday evening that I haven't written that when I do, they become disjointed and lacking in depth. After seeing that my gal, Leona, has quite probably been on the same wavelength as me, recently changed her Happy Things Thursday to a monthly thing, and in the spirit of not regurgitating the same old shit about how I'm thankful for wooly hats (duh-I always am), I'll be saving up all the real life loveliness for a monthly post!Something that of course I'm grateful for at this time of year is precious hours with my friends and family, I thought I'd share with you all a few official christmas decorating photos! Batman helped of course! Actually he mainly got himself covered in glitter and chewed the ribbons on 4 out of 9 of my new decorations. *shakes fists*

Every year Harps does the lights...

Whilst I made some delicious hot chocolates! Seriously amazing!

Traditional and homemade is this years theme- red, white, greenand a little brown.

I love this 3d snowflake from Wilko.

Batman busy jingling some balls..and chewing the ribbons...

Ahh this time of year makes my little heart swell with joy. How is everybody? Feeling stressed or full of festive cheer? I was pretty stressed a couple of days ago! Have you all decorated the house yet? I've made some more paper chains but haven't started on my snowflakes, to the scissors I go!

1) Preheat oven to 160c/325f/gasmark 3- Grease and line 2 20cm sandwich tins.2) Break up the chocolate and place with the milk and cocoa powder in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of hot water. Heat gently, stirring, until melted and smooth. Remove from heat and allow to cool.3) Meanwhile, in a large bowl- beat together the butter and muscovado sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks, then add the sour cream/creme fraiche and melted chocolate mixture. Sift in the flour and bicarb, the fold slowly and evenly. 4) In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff enough to hold firm peaks. Fold into the entire mixture lightly. 5) Divide the mixture between the prepared cake tins and smooth the surfaces. Bake in the oven on the middle shelf for about 35 minutes- until risen and firm to the touch. 6) Cool in the tins for 10 minutes, then turn on a wire rack to cool completely. 7) Whilst cooling, you can get the frosting ready (and start on that mountain of washing up) by placing the chocolate, cocoa powder, soured cream/creme fraiche, golden syrup, butter and water into a saucepan and heat gently until melted. 8) Remove from the heat and sift in the icing sugar, stirring until smooth and glossy. Leave to cool, stirring occasionally until it thickens and holds its shape ala festive chocolate mountain. 9) Split the cakes in half horizontally with a sharp knife until you have 4 even layers (make sure your cake is completely cooled). Sandwich the layers together with about a third of the icing. Spread the remainder over the top of your fancy cake and if you like, around the sides.

10) Dust with icing sugar for that festive feeling and pop on a pretty plate! Dig in!

1) Make the pastry a little while ahead to give it a chance to rest. Preheat the oven. Mix the flour and cubes of butter until breadcrumby, add the icing sugar and the zest and with COLD hands begin to form a ball. Add the cream a little at a time and be careful not to overwork the dough.

2) Take the dough out and carefully work into a flat disc, cover with clingfilm and leave to chill.

3) Meanwhile, cook the cranberries, orange juice, 1tsp brown sugar, the whisky, and zest on a medium heat until the cranberries soften. Help them along by crushing them with the back of a spoon. Keep cooking until the liquid thickens and turn up onto a high heat for the last couple of minutes, cooking off most of the liquid.

4) Add to the mincemeat and add sugar to taste. Pop it all in the fridge until ready to use.

5) Butter your pan well (or use two pans!) and take the pastry out of the fridge. Allow to soften, but remember not to let it get warm!

6) Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to the thickness of a pound coin (mine were a little thicker!) Cut out 12-20 circles slightly larger than your tin, gently press the circles into the holes, making sure there aren't any gaps!

7) Fill up your little pies about 3/4 way with your mincemeat/fruity filling and cut out 12-20 stars that are about the same size (if not a little larger) than your circles were.

8) Using one small egg, give the little treats a wash and pop in the oven for about 20 minutes- Keep an eye on the though, they'll pretty quickly go from delicious golden brown to dirt colour...

9) Remove everything from the oven and leave to cool for a few minutes (not too long though!) Using a knife, carefully prise them out of their tins, give them a magical dust with icing sugar and leave to cool fully.

10) Once no longer burning temperature, pour on a little cream, snuggle down and enjoy.

Sunday, 14 December 2014

Good evening festive friends, I'm sorry for my unplanned absence, after being stuck in bed with no voice and only Jeremy Kyle/ A Place In The Sun for company kept me too weak to come near my laptop- almost a week later and I'm on the mend! It means that I'm terribly behind on my festive planning and haven't even told anybody what I'd like to receive under the tree! I'm guessing that it's probably pretty late by now, but with my birthday fast approaching in January (the 15th if you're asking!) it's a bit of a Christmas and birthday list rolled into one!

Monday, 8 December 2014

Starting the search for the perfect accompaniments to my handmade and homemade Christmas, I stumbled across the Lakeland website. Two hours later and I'm stuck in an impossible conundrum of 'what festive cookie cutters to buy?'

Piñata Cookie Cutter Set £4.99- These are traditionally piñata or donkeys but for a festive twist, simply add some antlers and you've got yourself a surprise filled reindeer! (For the record- these are the ones I'm most swooning over!)

Mason Cash Petit Beurre Advent Biscuit Set £19.99- A beautiful set of 24 numbered advent delights, I'd never be able to bake enough for all my friends and family (as planned) but it'd be nice to make these for the home- not sure they'd last long enough though!

Just so you know, I haven't been approached by Lakeland, I'm just really in love with all of these!

Saturday, 6 December 2014

It never ceases to amaze me how the brilliant photographer (and my very good friend!) Tracey finds such beautiful, local places for us to head out and take some images. After a much needed catch up, we arranged to take a little trip outside of St Austell to Roche Rock for a little photoshoot. I'd had a nightmare of a day due to a clumsy plumber flooding (and I really do mean flooding) my bathroom floor/hallway and was in a right panic, that the fresh December air was just what I needed whilst waiting for the house to dry out a little.I hadn't heard of Roche Rock and enjoyed getting another mini history lesson from Tracey as we set up for the shoot, after hearing some of the tales of the location, I couldn't wait to find out more! Roche Rock and hermitage has many myths surrounding it; from being known for it's haunting activity and religious historic roots, the rocks themselves are a natural phenomenon and mystery, thought to have been created some 270 million years ago. The chapel or hermitage itself was actually built from grey quartz and black tourmaline, withstanding the elements since the 1400s. Though dedicated to St Michael in 1409, it is believed (though still not completely known) that the chapel was used for religious or sacred purposes for years before, the rocks used for thousands of years even prior to that.One of the fascinating stories take us back to the days of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, it is said that Tristan (or Tristram), the nephew of King Mark, was sent to Ireland to fetch the King's bride-to-be, Isolde. The couple 'accidentally' sipped a love potion (obviously) and became besotted with one another. Needless to say, O'l King Mark wasn't best impressed and they took refuge at Roche Rock, possibly at the hermitage or chapel at the time.Another tale is about Gundred, whose father was a leper. As such, he kept himself away from the local society, and protected her by living in the chapel and becoming a hermit. She however, tended to her father by carrying him to a holy well, just a mile from the rock itself, this became known as St Gundred's well, and is still there today! Today,a beautiful hidden gem to walk, climb or take photos but it really does have a mysterious feel to it, that I could almost believe the haunted tales, even in daylight!

Friday, 5 December 2014

Good afternoon Friday friends! How are you all coping in this cold spell? (Unless you're Sunae, in which case you're on the beach, having a blast!) You may remember last month Harps and I celebrated our six year anniversary! You may also remember that we added to our travelling tattoos during our time off- well here they are! Harps decided to get 'When In Rome' just below his collar bone, embedding his favourite phrase to say whilst were away forever. I decided on a roman labyrinth on the back of my neck- it is straight, just really hard to take a photo keeping upright!

Wednesday, 3 December 2014

As you may or may not be aware, this Christmas I have decided to mainly (I use that word loosely- I got excited) to make all of my gifts for friends and family. It isn't just because of our dramatic wedding saving but also it's just nice to get something that someone you care about took the time to make, right? So I sent around a menu of baking delights to choose from (you can see my options here!) and throughout December (and replacing my Wednesday Words posts for now!) I'll be sharing with you all some of the delicious recipes so we can all have a go!

I'd never made banoffee cake but the trial bake that's shown above was so highly received by my colleagues that I know there's a few that've been waiting a couple of weeks for the recipe. As far as a group of cake eaters go, this lot know their stuff. High praise indeed!

Feeds: 10 (or a couple less if you count sneaky mid afternoon seconds!)

1) Preheat the oven to 180c/350f/GM 4 and grease/line two 20cm/8inch sandwich tins.2) Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl and add the softened butter, sugar and eggs, mix together until smooth.3) Mash two bananas in a bowl using a fork until all large lumps have been mushed. Add this to the mixture and mix together for a further minute. (The mixture will no longer be smooth- this is fine!)4) Divide the mixture evenly between the two tins and smooth the surfaces.5) Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 mins until golden brown (it will be slightly darker than usual) and it passes the skewer test. The cakes should feel springy to touch.6) Leave to cool in the tins for 5 mins and then gently remove. Leave to cool completely before unwrapping from the greaseproof paper.7) Once cooled, spread a generous layer of the toffee spread onto one of the cakes. Chop the other two bananas and cover the spread. Whilst leaving this to set, add the icing sugar to the double cream and whip on a high speed until thickened. 8) Spread 1/3 of the cream over the other cake and sandwich together, carefully as the cream vs bananas can be a little slippery.9) Spread the remainder of the cream over the top of the cake and heat a little of the toffee sauce. Once slightly melted, using your trusty cake skewer, create toffee patterns on top of your cake, adding a lovely finish and extra toffee flavour.10) Sit down with a nice slice and a cup of tea and watch a festive film.

Monday, 1 December 2014

Dear friends and family, Happy December 1st! This year, as you know, we're trying to have a pretty budgeted Christmas, saving for a wedding is tough work! I wanted to invite you all to pick a delicious cake that you'd like to receive this year, just please let me know as soon as possible what you'd like!

Banoffeelicious Cake.

Sophie & Harp's Christmas Fruit Cake (With or without drunk fruit).

Greedy Fat Piggy Chocolate Cake.

Rudolph's Lost His Nose Cherry Cake.

I can't wait to spend another festive season with you all!

Love Sophie Xx

*Blogging friends, I'll certainly try to make a few for you guys too- let me know below what you'd like and I'll see what I can do!

Sunday, 30 November 2014

That's not me but it's a pretty good representation of how I suck at technology, I suck at Twitter, and I certainly suck at choosing new phones. I'd be the person who'd quite happily have a Nokia 3210 still if it wasn't for my constant need to browse Pinterest over lunch, take photos for blogging/life (I rarely carry a camera purely because I can't bare the thought of having to buy a new one and decide on what I need!) and catch up on the news because you never know when something crazy might happen!Alas, my current phone- Samsung S3 mini (not the best I've had but I do like the simplicity of Samsung!) is on it's last legs already, is it just me or do phones never last these days? *sighs*. I popped into the local phone shop yesterday and was blinded by the billboard sized phones that are on sale these days- hey guys, I thought technology was getting smaller? Anyway, I know that I want a decent camera, my current one has a lot to be desired, I also figure that I can get over the size thing, but definitely don't want an iPhone. Other than that, I'm pretty easily pleased.

Saturday, 29 November 2014

It's a week. A week since it all happened and every night since I've sat and started to write. Every night since, I've choked up when I've tried to form the words eloquently and ended up rambling on as usual. This time I wanted to tell you, and more-so show you, just what last weekend meant to a group of extraordinary people.You all have heard me talk about nothing butPeople and Gardens for a little while now (go on, catch up here if you've missed it) and you're all totally aware that for the last few months I've been organising (alongside some lovely ladies) a fashion show and craft fayre to raise money for them.Something that I don't know if I mentioned before is that I work for Santander UK. I've always been nervous to talk about 'work stuff' online but I really can't contain my pride at working for a company that not only supports local charities and community interests but encourages their employees to get involved by matching how much an event, arranged by an employee, raises. How amazing is that?

This is how the day started...

Months and months of preparation had come to the actual day, we were all feeling pretty nervous. We knew we had an an amazing show planned with wonderful (and local!) designers and we knew that the ladies and gents at P&G would love it. But could we pull it off? Out of the four of us, Helen from P&G, Jess from Eden and towards the end I roped in my mum, not one of us had ever organised a fashion show of any kind. As more and more people started to flood through the doors, I ended up talking with a microphone to manoeuvre people!

Jess & Stacie before the show.

Before I start thanking people and reveal just how much we raised (Eeekk!), I just want to go back to why I've been choking up when I've tried to write this. Really I can only talk from my life with Bimble, and of course he's one of the reasons that I'm a bit teary. I'd been incredibly stressed all day, was feeling nervous about the success of the show and worried that it wouldn't raise as much as I'd hoped.

Just as it started...

As I took his hand and we walked onto the catwalk, I watched him (worst model ever I know!) I couldn't help it, seeing his face light up at the 12 strong photographers and videographers at the end of the catwalk, made my heart just burst. Actually burst with happiness. Holding my hand tight, he strutted his stuff with a beaming smile, confidence oozing. (I definitely cried when we got offstage!) It leads me on to my main reason for being so proud of last weekend; it wasn't just Bimble that gained something that night. I truly believe that every single person that stepped onto that stage from P&G gained the best gift they've had in a while. Confidence. To any of us, getting glammed up and people appreciating how great you look is just awesome, but imagine that on a much bigger scale. Huger scale in fact. On that note, take a look for yourselves...

Beautiful isn't it?

Very quickly my face went from all the above to this >>(embracing the inner Spice Girl that I am, singing "When Two Become One"- Bimble must have been rubbing off on me.)

There really are so many people that helped us pull this off- I'll be damned if I remember them all. I'm so very sorry if I miss you out, please know that I'm eternally grateful for the hard work that everyone put in.

St Austell College arrived to do hair and makeup for us, they stayed and did an amazing hair presentation which was WILD but I can't seem to find a photo yet, there'll be plenty more added over the next couple of weeks!

Our fashion show was split into two parts; established Cornwall and Devon designers and Plymouth College of Art's second year fashion students showcasing their garments themed around Cornish heritage- a brilliant line up wouldn't you agree? Our interval also included a breathtaking performance from Cornwall Rock Choir! If you're looking for quality fashion that showcases some of the best talent in design that the south west has to offer, take a look at any of the designers below!

The evening was a total success, that when I woke from my coma the next morning, I was greeted with such wonderful messages from so many of you that the support for P&G has continually thrived throughout the last week. Including a very generous, charitable and snugly offer from Stacie Clark Knitwear for all of the proceeds from the sale of her delightful snoods going to People and Gardens! Perfect with Christmas coming up and as someone who wore one just last week (see below) I can highly recommend their quality and cosiness!

I honestly could carry on telling you all about the evening with such depth that we'd be here all day! As I said, there will most certainly be a catch up post when we've received more images and the wonderful documentary by Tribe Magazine. Until then I leave you with two things;

1) In total that night, we raised £2541.69 and when this is matched by Santander, will be an outstanding total of £5083.38! I couldn't be prouder of the hard work and amazing support from everyone involved, it leaves me welling up all over again.

Wednesday, 26 November 2014

Snuggled down, watching 'That 70's Show', it suddenly dawned on me that I hadn't thought of a phrase for this weeks Wednesday Words. I thought back to how I've been feeling this week (tired and relieved if you're asking) and thought about how hard the charity event was to pull off (we did though, it was a brilliant success!) It led me to thinking;

'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.'

Certainly apt. I think this is on of those sayings that follows you through life, I know that I've thought it on plenty of occasions. I do believe that the hard times are there to shape us as individuals. My priorities have changed massively over the last ten years. I imagined travel was the only plan for me, I didn't care about a career of having a family, just me and the world. Experiences changed me in that my aim became having a secure and safe home- something I'd never have imagined I'd care about.That quote is attributed to German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche in 1887. Actually he said it much more eloquently; "That which does not kill us, makes us stronger."

Monday, 24 November 2014

There are two questions for when you meet someone new that in my opinion, can tell you enough about them to make an instant judgement. I shared these questions with Leona and Liam over lunch the other week and we agreed that they're at the very least a good conversation starter! I honestly use both of these questions when I meet someone new and hey I don't get a bad response!

1) What is the best type of biscuit in the world?

Now, my answer (after MUCH deliberation) is of course a jam cream. Some people get confused with a jammy dodger here but I assure you that is not the same thing. Jam creams are usually found in the Christmas selection box (not nearly enough of them!) but literally EVERY UK supermarket agrees with me that they are amazing and now stock them all.by.themselves! I'm not a dictator, there are plenty of appropriate answers! For example; bourbon is a very close second and a delicious choice. A true, honest person would choose a bourbon. Etc etc, Someone who chooses a 'NICE' biscuit is probably pretty close to the bottom of my biscuit list- there's just so many better biscuits!

There is one answer that is under no circumstances allowed- and this my friends, is where you can learn about someone the most.

Jaffa Cake.

Leona: "Anyone who answers with jaffa cake is a c***t."

2) If you were (hypothetically of course) to throw an animal over a rugby (American football) post, what is the largest animal you could throw?

As we all know I'm not exactly 'sporty'. This is what I think of when I hear rugby posts...

The answer here is important. Once you've got past the whole "Well I'd never throw an animal like a ball!" part. Let's just make is clear people- NOBODY WOULD DO THAT IN REAL LIFE! People's answers can be quite interesting. Mine is currently a small goat. I'm feeling a little feeble from the weather but sometime in the summer I was feeling confident about a large monkey. The question is really two-fold. A) The size/weight of the animal compared to distance/height to throw. B) The ability to actually throw the animal (the goat- use the horns *underarm swing*) etc. People that wuss out and say " Oh I could't throw dust from a moth." Get out.

So what do you think? Good conversation starters hey? Maybe not in an interview...Or an animal charity event....Or in a jaffa cake factory..But great over lunch!

Thursday, 20 November 2014

Two days to go until my final charity event of the year! I promise that this is the last time I'll mention it (until I tell you all about it on Sunday of course!) Currently too busy to reflect on what I'm thankful for (there's currently a running list in my head of people that I'm thankful to!) there is one little wish that I have for you all.Please share and promote our charity event as much as your little hearts will allow you to for the next couple of days, you all know how much the work the People and Gardens do means to me and my little family- it would mean the world to raise as much money as we can for them.

Thank you Lisette for inspiring me to be more thankful. And thank you to every single one of you that's shared/ mentioned to friends and family/ may even be coming on Saturday night!

Wednesday, 19 November 2014

Wednesday is actually speedily becoming Thursday and I find myself panicking for the weekend and hoping that our charity event goes off without a hitch! We'll sit down on Sunday and have a cup of tea and a catch up shall we? With charitable intentions and good faith in mind, positive attitude has been my motto of the week- followed by this little gem:

My name is Sophie Louise Anne, I live in Cornwall with my pretty boy, Harps and my even prettier rabbit, Batman. I am often described as weird because of my love of cats, fancy dress, old people, tea, cake, dresses, T-Rex's and laughing at my own jokes. I'm a bit of a mind-wanderer, peacemaker, basic baker, tattoo addict, wanderluster and book worm. I really DISLIKE feet, any spoon larger than a teaspoon, mannequins, Nicholas Cage (Offensive face) and Arnold 'I'm a robot in real life' Schwarzenegger. Creep.
Have a gander about me right.. here.